Mayor Bladimiro Montalvo wants to avoid ending up like his predecessor, who was kidnapped and shot to death by his own police officers linked to the Zetas drug gang. Cartels use isolated towns to hide kidnap victims and stash their drugs.

SANTIAGO, Mexico — Bladimiro Montalvo has one of the most dangerous jobs in this colonial town, and in all of Mexico. He’s the mayor.

The soft-spoken 67-year-old teacher distributes school supplies, organizes a job fair and works on improving the library. He also tries to avoid ending up like his predecessor, who authorities say was kidnapped and shot to death last month by his own police officers linked to the Zetas drug gang.

Three other small-town mayors in northeastern Mexico have been killed in the past month, among the at least seven killed in border states this year. On Friday, the mayor-elect of Gran Morelos, a town in the border state of Chihuahua, was shot and critically wounded.

Mexican drug cartels have increasingly targeted such officials as they fight the government and one another, seeking control of drug markets and routes to the United States. They use isolated, lightly patrolled towns to hide and to stash kidnap victims, weapons and drugs. They must co-opt or eliminate authority figures like mayors to assert control over residents and police.

Santiago, a scenic town of 40,000 nestled against the Sierra Madre, is in the state of Nuevo Leon, which borders Texas. It sits on an older, less-traveled highway that drug gangs use to reach Tamaulipas, another violence-wracked state on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Authorities said Montalvo’s predecessor, 38-year-old Edelmiro Cavazos, was killed by his own security guard and other police in retaliation for his attempts to oust corrupt officers.

“The slogan of Edelmiro Cavazos was ‘the best part of Santiago is its people,’ and it was his people who turned him over,” said Montalvo, who has armed guards outside his office door.

“At first there was a lot of sadness because Edelmiro was a good man with a big heart who wanted to do good things for his town. And now there is fear. People are afraid.”

In the face of such bloodshed, many mayors simply ignore drug problems.

“Sometimes it’s better not to know,” said Mayor Raul Mireles of Sabinas Hidalgo, a hamlet on the highway leading to Laredo, Texas. “The only thing I can tell you is that I don’t interfere with anyone.”

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